 | THE WEDDING The Foolish Virgin |  |
10. THE WEDDING
Ella hurried into the kitchenette and busied herself with dinner. Jim's unexpectedly early arrival broke the spell of the tragedy to which Mary had listened with breathless sympathy. Her own future she faced without a shadow of doubt or fear.
Her reproaches to Jim were entirely perfunctory, on the sin of his early call on their wedding-day.
"Naughty boy!" she cried with mock severity. "At this unseemly hour!"
He glanced about the room nervously.
"Anybody in there?"
He nodded toward the kitchenette.
"Only Ella — "
"Send her away."
"What's the matter?"
"Quick, Kiddo — quick!"
Mary let Ella out from the little private hall without her seeing Jim, and returned.
"For heaven's sake, man, what ails you?" she asked excitedly.
"Say — I forgot that thing already. We got to go over it again. What if I miss it?"
"The ceremony?"
"Yep — "
He mopped his brow and looked at his watch.
"By the time we get to that preacher's house, I won't know my first name if you don't help me."
Mary laughed softly and kissed him.
"You can't miss it. All you've got to do is say, `I will' when he asks you the question, put the ring on my finger when he tells you, and repeat the words after him — he and I will do the rest."
"Say my question over again."
"`Wilt thou have this woman to thy wedded wife, to live together after God's ordinance, in the holy estate of matrimony? Wilt thou love her, comfort her, honor, and keep her in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, keep thee only unto her, so long as ye both shall live?'"
She looked at him and laughed.
"Why don't you answer?"
"Now?"
"Yes — that's the end of the question. Say, `I will.'"
"Oh, I will all right! What scares me is that I'll jump in on him and say `I will' before he gets halfway through. Seems to me when he says, `Wilt thou have this woman to be thy wedded wife?' I'll just have to choke myself there to keep from saying, `You bet your life I will, Parson!'"
"It won't hurt anything if you say, `I will' several times," she assured him.
"It wouldn't queer the job?"
"Not in the least. I've often heard them say, `I will' two or three times. Wait until you hear the words, `so long as ye both shall live — '"
"`So long as ye both shall live,'" he repeated solemnly.
"The other speech you say after the minister."
"He won't bite off more than I can chew at one time, will he?"
"No, silly — just a few words — "
"Because if he does, I'll choke."
Jim drew his watch again, mopped his brow, and gazed at Mary's serene face with wonder.
"Say, Kiddo, you're immense — you're as cool as a cucumber!"
"Of course. Why not? It's my day of joy and perfect peace — the day I've dreamed of since the dawn of maidenhood. I'm marrying the man of
"Let me hang around here till time — won't you?" he asked helplessly.
"We must have Ella come back to fix the table."
"Sure. I just didn't want her to hear me tell you that I had cold feet. I'm better now."
Ella moved about the room with soft tread, watching Jim with sullen, concentrated gaze when he was not looking.
The lovers sat on the couch beside the window, holding each other's hands and watching in silence the hurrying crowds pass below. Now that his panic was over, Jim began to breathe more freely, and the time swiftly passed.
As the shadows slowly fell, they rang the bell at the parson's house beside the church, and his good wife ushered them into the parlor. The little Craddocks crowded in — six of them, two girls and four boys, their ages ranging from five to nineteen.
Sweet memories crowded the girl's heart from her happy childhood. She had never missed one of these affairs at home. Her father was a very popular minister and his home the Mecca of lovers for miles around.
Craddock, like her father, was inclined to be conservative
When she stood before the preacher in this beautiful familiar scene which she had witnessed so many times at home, Mary's heart beat with a joy that was positively silly. She tried to be serious, and the dimple would come in her cheek in spite of every effort.
As Craddock's musical voice began the opening address, the memory of a foolish incident in her father's life flashed through her mind, and she wondered if Jim in his excitement had forgotten his pocket-book and couldn't pay the preacher.
"Dearly beloved," he began, "we are gathered together here in the sight of God — "
Mary tried to remember that she was in the sight of God, but she was so foolishly happy she could only remember that funny scene. A long-legged Kentucky mountain bridegroom at the close of the ceremony had turned to her father and drawled:
"Well, parson, I ain't got no money with me — but I want to give ye five dollars. I've got a fine dawg. He's worth ten. I'll send him to ye fur five — if it's all right?"
The children had giggled and her father blushed.
"Oh, that's all right," he had answered. "Money's no matter. Forget the five. I hope you'll be very happy."
Two weeks later a crate containing the dog had come by express. On the tag was scrawled:
Dear Parson: — I like Nancy so well, I send ye the hole dawg, anyhow.
She hadn't a doubt that Jim would feel the same way — but she hoped he hadn't forgotten his pocketbook.
The scene had flashed through her mind in a single moment. She had bitten her lips and kept from laughing by a supreme effort. Not a word of the solemn ceremonial, however, had escaped her consciousness.
"And in the face of this company," the preacher's rich voice was saying, "to join together this Man and this Woman in holy Matrimony; which is commended of St. Paul to be honorable among all men: and therefore is not by any to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly; but reverently, discreetly, advisedly, soberly, and in the fear of God. Into this holy estate these two persons present come now to
Craddock paused, and his piercing eyes searched the man and woman before him.
"I require to charge you both, as ye will answer at the dreadful day of judgment, when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed, that if either of you know any impediment, why ye may not be lawfully joined together in Matrimony, ye do now confess it — "
Again he paused. The perspiration stood in beads on Jim's forehead, and he glanced uneasily at Mary from the corners of his drooping eyes. A smile was playing about her mouth, and Jim was cheered.
"For be ye well assured," the preacher continued, "that if any persons are joined together otherwise than as God's Word doth allow, their marriage is not lawful."
He turned with deliberation to Jim and transfixed him with the first question of the ceremony. The groom was hypnotized into a state of abject terror. His ears heard the words; the mind recorded but the vaguest idea of what they meant.
"Wilt thou have this Woman to thy wedded wife,
Jim's mouth was open; his lower jaw had dropped in dazed awe, and he continued to stare straight into the preacher's face until Mary pressed his arm and whispered:
"Jim!"
"I will — yes, I will — you bet I will!" he hastened to answer.
The children giggled, and the preacher's lips twitched.
He turned quickly to Mary.
"Wilt thou have this Man to thy wedded husband, to live together after God's ordinance, in the holy estate of Matrimony? Wilt thou obey him, and serve him, love, honor, and keep him in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, keep thee only unto him, so long as ye both shall live?"
With quick, clear voice, Mary answered:
"I will."
"Please join your right hands and repeat after me:"
He fixed Jim with his gaze and spoke with deliberation, clause by clause:
"I, James, take thee, Mary, to my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I plight thee my troth."
Jim's throat at first was husky with fear, but he caught each clause with quick precision and repeated them without a hitch.
He smiled and congratulated himself: "I got ye that time, old cull!"
The preacher's eyes sought Mary's:
"I, Mary, take thee, James, to my wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and to obey, till death do us part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I give thee my troth."
In the sweetest musical voice, quivering with happiness, the girl repeated the words.
Again the preacher's eyes sought Jim's:
And the Man shall give unto the Woman a ring —
The groom fumbled in his pocket and found at
The bride lifted her left hand, deftly extending the fourth finger, and the groom slipped the ring on, and held it firmly gripped as he had been instructed.
"With this ring I thee wed — "
"With this ring I thee wed — " Jim repeated firmly.
" — and with all my worldly goods I thee endow — "
" — and with all my worldly goods I thee endow — "
"In the Name of the Father — "
"In the Name of the Father — "
" — and of the Son — "
" — and of the Son — "
" — and of the Holy Ghost — "
" — and of the Holy Ghost — "
"Amen!"
"Amen!"
The voice of the preacher's prayer that followed rang far-away and unreal to the heart of the girl. Her vivid imagination had leaped the years. Her spirit did not return to earth and time and place
"Those whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder!
"Forasmuch as James Anthony and Mary Adams have consented together in holy wedlock, and have witnessed the same before God and this company, and thereto have given and pledged their troth, each to the other, and have declared the same by giving and receiving a Ring, and by joining hands; I pronounce that they are Man and Wife, In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen."
The preacher lifted his hands solemnly above their heads.
"God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, bless, preserve, and keep you; the Lord mercifully with His favor look upon you, and fill you with all spiritual benediction and grace; that ye may so live together in this life, that in the world to come ye may have life everlasting. Amen."
The preacher took Mary's hand.
"Your father is my friend, child. This is for him — "
He bent quickly and kissed her lips, while Jim gasped in astonishment.
The minister's wife congratulated them both. The two older children smilingly advanced and added their voices in good wishes.
Mary whispered to Jim:
"Don't forget the preacher's fee!"
"Lord, how much? Will fifty be enough? It's all I've got."
"Give him twenty. We'll need the rest."
It was not until they were seated in the waiting cab and sank back among the shadows, that Jim crushed her in his arms and kissed her until she cried for mercy.
"The gall of that preacher, kissing you!" he muttered savagely. "You know, I come within an ace of pasting him one on the nose!"
| THE WEDDING The Foolish Virgin | |